COTABATO CITY–A village official in this city was seriously injured when an unidentified gunman shot him while he was praying Thursday inside a mosque.
Major Rustum Pastolero, chief of the Cotabato City Police Station 2, said Amil Sula, 45, of Barangay Rosary Heights 5, was praying inside a masjid along Don E. Sero Street when the gunman barged in at 7:10 p.m. and opened fire.
Pastolero said stray bullets also hit the man beside Sula, former village councilor Abner Ampaun, 39. Residents claimed that several other men praying inside the mosque suffered minor injuries.
Initial police investigation showed that two men arrived near the mosque on a motorbike. One of them, wearing a facemask and a hooded jacket, alighted and went inside for the attack.
Pastolero said the gunmen quickly sped away while the victims’ relatives rushed them to the hospital.
“We are still investigating what triggered the shooting (and) who was behind it,” Pastolero said.